Kishou
by HemingwayisBOSS
Summary: Arima's thought process during his confrontation with Kaneki as imagined by me. Oneshot.


**Just something I threw together after rereading the final chapters of Tokyo Ghoul for the hundredth time. Enjoy. **

**XXXXX**

It's raining.

I can tell, because I hear water rushing through the pipes all around me. They're like veins pumping the city's lifeblood up and down – left and right. The city is bleeding, like the corpses staining V14. I don't recall ever having killed this many in such a short time. Washuu's strategy worked. Hundreds of ghouls must've died tonight.

…

Voices in my ear. Fearful voices, yelling about Owl. It has arrived, the real one. Sounds like it's tearing the investigators above apart. I'm done here. Time to greet an old foe.

…

Wait, there's one more. At the other end of the corpse sea. This one's younger than the rest. No mask, just a tired, youthful face framed by white bangs. The blood on his chin gives him away though.

The Centipede. The SS-rated Kakuja.

Interesting.

He has discovered me now. He seems shocked. Must have recognized me.

He's looking at the bodies now. He seems confused. Does he not understand what lies before him?

…

Ah, he can see it now and it has him horrified. How many of his friends are here I wonder? I'm expecting him to go berserk, but it doesn't happen. He's just standing there, his shoulders slumped, looking as ragged and exhausted as his tattered attire. If he's not going to take the initiative, I guess I'll have to do it myself.

I move forward.

He's rallying himself now, I can see it in his grey eyes, the same as mine. He's going to make his move.

I don't give him the opportunity.

The Centipede takes three steps forward, and I let Ixa pierce him through the torso, just a nibble to see what I'm dealing with here. Easier than expected. My speed has him dazzled. He turns, but I'm already behind him, Ixa ready in my hand.

I take his eye.

I release the tip and leave it inside his head, just to tickle him a little. Now he's screaming, as he should. I rarely experience pain, so I find it hard to imagine the chorus of painful howls that must be reverberating through his synapses.

He's talking now, too incoherent for me to follow. Here comes his kagune, eight of them. He manages to pull it out.

Wait.

My name, that's what he's trying to utter, isn't it?

…

Here it comes, the show I was expecting. Kagune the length of a dozen python sprouting from his back, trashing around with a mind of their own. I'm reminded of a dying octopus I once saw washed upon the shore. As they converge upon me, I'm forced to pull back. One arm grazes the top of my head, but I was never about to be hit.

How do they all fit inside such a small, frail-looking body?

…

Looks like he's done now. He's retracting the kagune and talking again, but it's just gibberish.

No, it's not.

He's trying to pull himself together, even as he's crying crimson. It would be so easy to finish him off right now, but I want to see if he can. There's still time.

…

Ainu?

What does he mean?

The language? The people?

…

Oh, I see.

It's a poem.

It's beautiful.

I let him know.

'It's Hakushū…' he says.*

The famous poet?

…

I feel like I'm overlooking something…as if I've been given the final piece of a puzzle, but somehow still don't know where to place it.

…

Oh, I know where it fits.

Shinohara's investigation. The literature major who was involved in that steel accident and disappeared. One of Kanou's experiments.

A human-made ghoul.

A half-ghoul.

A one-eyed ghoul.

Heh. How ironic.

It's my first time seeing one...maybe...

What was his name?

…

Kaneki Ken.

A dilemma.

I am a Ghoul Investigator. Killing ghouls is my job. Protecting humans is my job.

But this one is both.

Kill the Centipede?

Protect Kaneki Ken?

…

Strange. As I look at him, I can feel the urge subside. I think…I do not want to kill him. I can't find the words to explain it, but I feel like there's beauty here that should not be destroyed. If I were to paint a picture, I'd say it's like I'm standing over a white flower not yet bloomed.

And I want to see it.

…

No.

Blood on his chin, in his mouth.

If he wants to live like a ghoul, then I'll treat him like one.

I glance down at the encased Narukami. The rain is still falling. Is Ainu crying for your dead friends, Kaneki Ken? For what I'm about to do to you?

This is V14. Your fate was sealed the moment you entered here.

Do not think badly of me. I'll make it quick.

I raise Narukami.

…

He is fast. I keep trying to swat him, and he keeps evading.

It's a game of tag, and I'm 'it'.

He'll have to make a move soon, or he'll exhaust himself.

I catch him glancing at me from the corner of his eye.

Here it comes.

I ready Ixa.

…

A single kagune erupts from his flesh, bigger than anything I've seen before. As it clashes with Ixa, I can't help smiling. After all that, it all comes down to a match of arm wrestling. Simple and brutish… so why…

Why am I enjoying this so much?

…

The unthinkable is happening. Ixa is starting to give in. If I do not counterattack within the next three seconds, I'll lose the quinque. He's good. Probably the best I've ever faced besides Owl.

I have to end it, but I think I'll praise him first.

…

It's over. He's lying on his back now, organs crushed. Blood is flowing from every orifice, eyes, nose, mouth and ears. No need to prolong the inevitable.

I take his other eye.

…

What's this on my cheek?

Blood.

My blood.

Another thing I've never seen before.

I look down on him. Even after everything I've done, I can still hear his heart pumping in unison with the pipes. Is the city telling me to let him go? If I were to leave him alone, he might actually recover.

I have to finish him off.

…

New dilemma.

I don't want to hurt him anymore.

In my ear, I hear the HQ talking to me, telling me to get to Owl.

And I do want to fight Owl.

But if I go, I have to finish him off.

…

Can you hear me, Kaneki?

I have a proposition for you.

I think it would be a waste for you to die here. Let me take your identity, and I'll let you keep your life. You'll be reborn without a single memory of who you once were and the people you love.

Because you had to have come here for love, I think, when you could have easily stayed away.

Perhaps you could even teach me something about that.

…

Not in a condition to answer, huh? Fine, I'll make the decision on your behalf.

I raise a finger to my ear.

"Washuu? I have a request."

XXXX

***Apparently, there was a mistranslation on page eight in chapter 139. What he actually said was not "autumn", but the name of the man who wrote the poem he is reciting. **

**If there's one thing that pisses me off about the TG popularity poll, it's that that bastard Uta made the top ten and not Arima. Ever since I finished the manga, I've been fascinated by this guy, wondering about what motivates him. Personally, I think he and Eto both need more time in the limelight. After Kaneki, they're probably my favorite characters. **

**Also, he's one deliciously stone-cold motherfucker. **


End file.
